A RELATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF HERITAGE IN POST-1997 HONG KONG by Lachlan Barber B.A., The University of King’s College, 2004 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July 2014 © Lachlan Barber, 2014 Abstract The central question of this dissertation is: what can Hong Kong teach us about the geography of heritage? The study considers the discursive transformation of cultural heritage as a feature of Hong Kong’s transition since the 1997 retrocession to Chinese sovereignty. Specifically, it traces the contradictory growth of interest in heritage as an urban amenity on the part of the government, and its simultaneous framing as a socio-political critique of neoliberal governance on the part of actors in civil society. The study analyses these dynamics from a perspective attentive to the relationships – forged through various forms of mobility and comparison – between Hong Kong and other places including mainland China, Great Britain, and urban competitors. The project relies on data gathered through English-language research conducted over a period of two and a half years. Sixty in-depth interviews were carried out with experts, activists, professionals and politicians in Hong Kong. Extensive surveys of government documents, the print and online media, and archival materials were undertaken. Other methods employed include site visits and participant observation. The methodology was oriented around the analysis of processes of heritage policy and contestation over a number of sites in Central, Hong Kong and surrounding districts where contradictory visions of the meaning of heritage have played out materially. The dissertation connects with debates in critical heritage studies, urban geography, and Hong Kong studies. A distinctly geographical contribution to heritage studies is made with the application of relational theory, drawn from the emerging literature on urban policy mobilities and urban studies more generally, to the study of the politics of heritage. The consideration of heritage policy, an important feature of the cultural economy and collectively produced and ii contested, adds to understandings of globalizing urban cultural policy. Finally, the study of these processes – at this particular moment in Hong Kong – provides a new frame for understanding post-handover politics in an era of increasing agitation about the future of the SAR’s relationship with the Mainland and ongoing struggles for democratization. iii Preface This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia. The research was designed and undertaken solely by the author, under the guidance of the research supervisor and supervisory committee. Prior to the commencement of the research, ethical approval for the aspects involving human participants was obtained through a formal review by the Behavioural Ethical Review Board of the University of British Columbia under certificate H09-02320. Parts of Chapter 4 and 5 of this thesis have been published in Urban Studies as the sole- authored article entitled “(Re)Making heritage policy in Hong Kong: A relational politics of global knowledge and local innovation” (Barber, 2014). Findings from Chapter 4 have been published as an online conference paper through the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia as “Locating postcolonial heritage in Hong Kong: The Star Ferry Pier as a site of politics, memory and encounter.” iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................v List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations .....................................................................................................................x Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1: Finding a Way into Hong Kong’s Skyline Image ....................................................1 1.1 Hong Kong as Skyline Image ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Flowers in a Window ...................................................................................................... 3 1.3 The Scene ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.4 The Contribution of the Thesis ....................................................................................... 6 1.4.1 A new story about heritage and urban policy in Hong Kong ..................................... 7 1.5 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 9 1.5.1 The agents of heritage in Hong Kong ....................................................................... 10 1.5.2 The places of heritage in Hong Kong ....................................................................... 13 1.5.3 The texts of heritage in Hong Kong .......................................................................... 14 1.5.4 About language ......................................................................................................... 15 1.6 Chapter Outline ............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 2: A Geography of Heritage in a World in Motion....................................................21 2.1 What is Heritage? .......................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Heritage in the City ....................................................................................................... 30 2.3 Urban Heritage with Asian Characteristics? ................................................................. 37 2.4 Geographies of Heritage ............................................................................................... 44 2.4.1 A relational geography of heritage: Rethinking scale and mobility ......................... 46 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3: Rereading the History of Heritage in Hong Kong .................................................55 3.1 Presuppositions ............................................................................................................. 58 3.2 An Archaeology of Heritage ......................................................................................... 61 3.3 Historical Context of the 1960s and 1970s ................................................................... 66 3.4 The Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance ................................................................. 70 3.5 The Hong Kong Heritage Society ................................................................................. 74 3.6 The Kowloon-Canton Railway Terminus ..................................................................... 78 3.7 Colonial Heritage through a Relational Lens................................................................ 84 3.8 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 4: Tradition and Transition: Heritage, Culture and Politics in Hong Kong after 1997................................................................................................................................................87 4.1 Climbing the Lion Rock................................................................................................ 87 4.2 Layout of the Chapter ................................................................................................... 91 4.3 The Meaning of 1997 .................................................................................................... 92 4.4 Heritage, Education and Tourism: Legitimating a Political Project ............................. 97 4.5 The Culture and Heritage Commission......................................................................... 99 4.6 The Roots of the New Heritage Activism ................................................................... 103 v 4.7 The Star Ferry and Queen’s Piers ............................................................................... 106 4.8 After the Piers Protests................................................................................................ 111 4.9 The Post-1980s (“Post-New Town Plaza”) Generation .............................................. 112 4.10 The State’s Response .................................................................................................. 115 4.11 The New